In Orlando, excessive force again leads to payout

This week, we learned of yet another settlement at the Orlando Police Department — $750,000 for the shooting of an unarmed man during an improper takedown.

It comes on the heels of a $140,000 payment to a woman whose teeth were broken after a cop shoved her face-first to the sidewalk.

And after a jury awarded $880,000 to an 84-year-old man whose neck was broken after a cop flipped him upside down.

The cases alone might seem disturbing.

But what troubles me most isn't a handful of bad encounters on a force that has thousands of them.

It's that, in all of these cases, the city never came clean on its own.

Instead, it made excuses, defended the actions and waited for outsiders — media, a state agency and a jury — to disclose the truth and force accountability.

That's a scary way for law enforcement to behave.

Yet, I'm not sure anyone is demanding they behave any better. Mayor Buddy Dyer and the Orlando City Council have been largely silent, simply cutting checks to make amends.

Consider the cases:

•In the case of the teeth-breaking in 2011, an officer shoved a woman face-first to the pavement. He had claimed that she had assaulted him. Charges against her stood for three months — until media presented video that showed what really happened. Only then were charges dropped. This year, the city cut her a check for $140,000.

•With the neck-breaking case, former Chief Val Demings didn't even order an internal-affairs investigation. She simply declared the neck-breaking of an 84-year-old man "within department guidelines" and declared the case closed. A jury disagreed — and awarded him $880,000.

•In the shooting, officers shot a man after claiming he tried to ram them with his car. But the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said video showed that's not what happened. It was actually a police car ramming the victim's vehicle from behind. That cost $750,000.

It's not the original incidents that trouble me the most. I think the vast number of cops are courageous professionals who deserve our thanks.

What's disturbing is that, when things do go wrong, OPD seems unwilling to own up to its actions — until someone makes them.

City Commissioner Daisy Lynum, one of the few to speak up, said it has long been that way in Orlando.

"Most of our cops are good, decent people who just want to do their job," Lynum said. "But there's a percentage that, once you put a gun in their hands, they start going after the very people they're supposed to protect. And Buddy doesn't want to talk about that. He has never wanted to talk about that. And neither have any of the chiefs."

Chief Paul Rooney, who took over after all of the events above took place, says he wants to do more to foster public trust.

Dyer said Tuesday that he cares and has shared his concerns privately with the chief. He also said he thinks his officers largely do a good job and that he tries to learn from every mistake.

Assuming he is serious, Dyer can start by demanding that his police force start coming clean on its own. Stop waiting on outsiders to uncover the truth or force restitution. All that does is foster distrust.

The city can also start pushing for more video cameras for officers and their cars.

Cameras help make cases. They protect good cops from bad accusations. They help tell the whole story.

And spare me the whining about costs. Every time this city wants a new sports venue, it finds millions.